*Clare coach Conor Dolan with corner back Ciara Grogan. Photograph: Veronica McMahon
Clare are capable of causing an upset when they travel to Galway this Saturday for their second outing of the All-Ireland senior camogie championship.
Reflecting on Clare’s opening round six point loss to Kilkenny, coach Conor Dolan said. “They are All-Ireland champions and league champions for one reason, they are clinical in front of the posts. Being honest I thought we were the better team for 75% of that game but we killed ourselves in the first fifteen minutes giving away stupid frees. Denise Gaule is one of the best freetakers in the country and she punished us. They kept us at arms length with that five point advantage”.
“We can’t fault the girls, they have a fantastic attitude, they worked well, kept it going to the very end. Their keeper made two or three great saves at the end. We finished very strong and its still there for us. We face Galway next week and we will go again”, Dolan added.
Neither side was used to the conditions of the searing heat for Saturday’s game, Dolan remarked. The Meelick native was well aware of the task facing the Banner in trying to overturn Galway away from home.
“It’s massive but we have proved in the league that we are capable of being up in the top group. We went toe to toe with Galway in the league. We outscored them but they got three soft goals, It was twelve scores to five in the first half. They ended up winning by 5 points. Our girls showed massive character up there and we will be expecting the same and a little bit more next week. We have a couple of girls back in the panel now that didn’t play that day”.
Dolan concluded, “We are as good as what’s there, it’s just getting that belief into the girls. It’s slowly but surely happening. From now on we are concentrating on Galway. It’s still there and we still have a chance of getting to the quarter finals. Anything could happen in this group yet”.
